Whats reasonable ?

[Danny_Labrador]

We cruised around Corsica and Elba recently – super time – lots of good sailing - if I get time I will post something of it with pics etc..
Something however has stuck in my mind since. We were in Porto Azzurro (south east coast of Elba) in a marina when late in the afternoon a Dutch retired couple arrived in a smallish power boat (don’t know much about PB’s but I guess 30 ft long – can’t remember the name).
Anyway as usual you ask where they have come from and thy replied Menorca – they has travelled that day from Menorca through the Strait of Bonifacio to arrive at Porto Azzurro. Where are you going ? Cannes – next morning very early they were gone.
Is it me, am I over cautious ? Each little leg that I undertook was planned and there was always wind if the engine did fail –but to set off over those distances in a single (albeit big) engined craft seems – well to be asking for it.
Whilst we where there, there were days of F6/F7 with 6M waves.
Comments ?

 

[tcm]

yep, perhaps you are over-cautious, but so are most boatie types and perhaps esp powerboaters, 99%+ of whom are never EVER out in boat after dark except if there are fireworks out nearby, and even then it's not that many.

But "reasonable"? - not sure i understand? There's no real *need* to put in the miles as that couple were doing, but tis a good ilustration of the capabilities of boats being far far greater than most owners believe.

 

[Rustyknight]

Unfortunately, we're not all cast out of the same molds as Francis Chichester and Chay Blythe etc. etc....

Whats reasonable is whatever you're happy and comfortable with, bearing in mind your experience and comfort levels.

 

[DeeGee]

Can I seize on two words you used: 'Dutch' and 'retired'. So what we actaully have is a member of the country which seems to spawn perhaps the best sea-dogs (hehe), and the guy has probably more knowledge of his engine (and carefully chosen spares) than we have of our cooker. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I've met these sailors/boaters who just get on with getting on with it, and they tend to be bloody competent.

 

[jenku]

Being a 19 foot sailor myself I would not call a 30 ft powerboat "smallish".

Anyway I guess one of the advantages of fast motorboats is that you stand a good chance to avoid bad weather by quickly popping into nearest harbour, presuming you are not extremely far offshore. As far as engine failures are concerned, well thats another story.

 

[Kilter]

[ QUOTE ]
Being a 19 foot sailor myself

[/ QUOTE ]

Blimey...you're tall! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Santana379]

[ QUOTE ]
Can I seize on two words you used: 'Dutch' and 'retired'. So what we actaully have is a member of the country which seems to spawn perhaps the best sea-dogs

[/ QUOTE ]
Apparently a way you can tell that the Dutch are a seafaring nation is from the horizontal stripes on their ensign - no matter how much the ensign wears and frays, you can still tell their boats' country of registration. With the French flag however, you lose a whole colour first.

I guess our ensigns fit the bill pretty well too - it takes quite a lot of wear before you get to the union jack bit!
Francis Fletcher

 

[Vagabond]

Experience I would guess is what counts along with risk assessment. At 30ft it probably has 2 engines fed from separate fuel tanks. Diesel engines are very reliable.

If the chap didn't know what was going on under the engine hatch then I would suggest it was a little fool hardy but I expect the he was very aware of the engines and their systems and able to bleed injectors, change fuel filters etc to keep things running.